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South Bay SDA Church

Genesis

Jeremy Arnall

01 The Creation Account: Let There Be Light

02 Day 2 of Creation: Under Heaven’s Quilt

03 Day 3 of Creation

04 Let There Be Time

05 Day 5 of Creation

06 Day 6 of Creation

07 And God Said, “Let There Be Rest”

08 Media & Mediums

09 The Naked Truth About Righteousness

10 The Naked Truth About Righteousness

11 What Worship Costs and What Love Requires

12 Two Lines, Two Legacies

13 Terms & Conditions

14 The Mantle of Love

Ann Landers is said to have written some time back these words, listen carefully, hate is like an acid.

It can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well as destroy the object on which it is poured.

We're continuing in our series, the book of Genesis, with a look today at the story of Cain and Abel.

Lord, please speak to our hearts this morning through the power of your word.

Please wash and cleanse me, cleanse each 1 of us, Lord, that we might be able to reflect your glory and to receive your righteousness as imparted to us through your Holy Spirit.

We need Jesus, we need you, so please draw close, minister to each 1 of us that when we go from this place, we might go with the glow of righteousness.

I'm going to ask that you open your Bibles today to Genesis chapter 4, okay?

Not going to put it on the screen today, I just want you to open your Bibles and to follow along.

Over the last several months we have been on again, off again, so to speak, with this series in Genesis.

We've gone carefully through the days of creation.

We looked carefully at Genesis chapter 3, spent 3 messages looking at that, media and mediums, you remember?

And we saw how Satan sought to turn Eve into a walking medium as she went to carry out what she had experienced at the tree with Adam.

Last week, though, we looked at something rather intriguing in that we looked carefully at the verbiage there in Genesis 324, and when we carefully compared Scripture with Scripture, we discovered that indeed it appears that on all accounts that this sword that was flaming there at the Garden Gate was none other than the very presence of God described.

In other words, the cherubim, which are often associated with the Ark of the Covenant, were there at the garden gate where the presence of God rested.

And we saw that affirmed in the writings of Spirit of Prophecy, and that indeed for some 1600 years, men and women, Well, I guess primarily men in this case would be bringing the offerings on behalf of their family to the garden gate.

And this was essentially the front porch, if you will, of the garden.

In other words, it was much like the courtyard and the experience that we would later see post-Sinai, when God would give the instructions of the sanctuary.

And so when men and women, or when men, I keep saying, when they would come to the garden gate there, at the eastern gate of the Garden of Eden, which rested there until it was taken up at the flood.

The experience would have been to come to the very presence of God to offer worship and to have as the backdrop a view of what once was.

And perhaps, I don't know, but perhaps you could look, and perhaps in the distance, maybe, just maybe you could see the tree, which would have served as the, as the, as sort of indicative of the, of the, the very presence, or the very holy of holies, if you will, where God would meet with man.

For indeed, we See here a framework, the story of the Eastern Gate and the Shekinah glory of God and the worship that took place there.

We see illustrated the location where today's story would have likely taken place.

So with that backdrop, I want to draw your attention to verse 1.

Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, "'I have acquired a man from the Lord.'" I just wanna pause there.

When you look at the original language, scholars tell us that it appears that this could be quite literally read, I have acquired a man, the Lord.

On all accounts, she likely believed this was, I mean, come on, you've had a new baby, many of you, and your baby's always the prettiest, right?

Your baby's always the best, it's always the brightest, the most beautiful, And here is the baby who's never had a comparison.

There's never been a baby seen before, and now she's holding Cain.

And oh, her heart must have been full, as She hoped, she anticipated it.

She bore again, this time his brother, Abel.

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time, verse 3, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.

Abel also brought to the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.

And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering.

And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.

So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?

If you do well, will you not be accepted?

And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

Now Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "'Where is Abel, your brother?' He said, "'I do not know.

"'Am I my brother's keeper?' And he said, "'What have you done?

"'The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

I want you to notice how the text emphasizes 7 times this word brother.

She bore brother, his brother, She bore his brother Abel.

The earth has received your brother's blood.

This repetition, brother, couldn't be accidental.

We were told at the beginning who Abel was.

Because it's bringing to the very front of the reader's mind, he killed his brother?

The first point I want you to, us to draw this morning is that God accepts only what He provides.

Cain brought his offering to the Lord, an offering of the fruit of the ground.

Cain brought his offering, what does the text say?

Patriarchs and Prophets, page 72 states, quote, "'Cain presented his offering as a favor done to God, "'through which he expected to secure divine approval." You see, Cain was bringing fruit as a transactional type of experience.

Look, what I have brought to you, God, Now I expect favor in return.

Just as Adam and Eve tried to cover their own nakedness with fig leaves, so Cain demonstrates this same concept in what he's doing with his offering.

It wasn't that bringing fruit was wrong per se.

In fact, offerings of fruit and grain were later described in the sin offerings in Exodus 29, verses 39 to 41.

The text even suggests that Abel may have brought fruit as well when it says he also brought an offering.

The essential part, The recognition of the need for a Redeemer was left completely out.

You see, since the fall, God had established the pattern.

When Adam and Eve sinned, now catch this, when Adam and Eve sinned, Genesis 3.21 says that God made tunics of skin and God clothed them.

In verse 7 of chapter 3 it says that they took fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

So Adam and Eve try to take from the ground and make coverings for themselves.

God says, I'm going to make you tunics and cover you with those.

In chapter 4, We see a very similar pattern.

1 that is of the ground and 1 that requires blood.

God provided what was needed through the death of an innocent animal that prefigured Him.

This was the first sacrifice and it pointed forward to the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

Abel understood that worship begins with what God provides, not what we produce.

If worship involves what we produce, then worship is about us.

Hebrews 11, 4 says, by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous.

Back to Menu

Series

Genesis

11 What Worship Costs and What Love Requires

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Which Way, America?

15 The Mark of the Beast

58m

Unlock Revelation

15. The Mark of the Beast

1h 8m

The Danger of Worship

50m

Your Son, Your Only Son

57m

This One Thing

40m

Cain or Abel?

49m

The Price of Blood

56m

Workshop: Biblical Examples of Conflict Resolution

The Mantle

1h

A Communion Sermon

43m

The Sanctuary

01 The Sanctuary: Designed for Eternity

54m

Sound Doctrine